Summer Adventures

I still haven't told anyone about this blog. Due to absence of readers it seems silly to apologize for my lack of posting. However, apologize I must. I am sorry for myself because I haven't kept up with my goal of blogging consistently through the summer thus far. My excuse is that I have been doing a lot of traveling and I have also struggled with a lack of inspiration. Many times I feel that I don't have the material to compose a post that meets my high expectations of what will be interesting for others to read. But life isn't about being perfect. It is about what we learn and discover in process of growing as a person. So as I learn and write about the lessons God teaches me, my hope is that you will learn with me, and God will speak truth through the words that I write.

So, let me tell you about all this traveling my husband and I have been doing. The third week of June we drove two hours north of Atlanta to Rabun County for a mission trip. Every year a group of youth and adult volunteers head to the north ga mountains to help the community through a program called RAP (Rabun Aid Program). We stay at a local camp ground and each day we break up into groups to go out into the community to help people. We assist people who have houses that need repair and can't do it themselves. This year we had almost 100 youth and adults and in three days we helped 34 families with everything from painting a deck to yard-work to replacing siding. This is my second year and each time I am so amazed at what a group of people working together can accomplish. It is a great experience, and I am pretty sure that those of us who volunteered walked away more blessed and thankful than the people we went to help. Amazing how that works isn't it? It is truly more blessed to give than to receive.

My work group at RAP

After a week at home we hit the road and headed to Panama City for a youth conference called Big Stuf. My husband and I went down to help as chaperones, and we took almost 100 6-12th graders from the youth group my husband used to work with. The camp was HUGE and I think there were 1,500 people total. This was his eighth time attending and my first. In the morning we had worship and teaching. After lunch we got to chill on the beach and after dinner we had more worship and teaching. I mean, what could be better than that?? The only sad point was that it rained all week and I spent most of my free time cooped up in the hotel room. But all in all it was a great week. The theme was 'THINK' and they talked about how what we think determines what we do. So many times I feel defeated in life because I know the things I want to change but can't seem to make those changes happen. I see each failure as an isolated event, and I let those failures dictate how I view myself. They taught that when we reshift our focus to changing how we think; our actions will automatically follow. I felt like a light bulb went off in my head. I feel empowered to take on this new challenge of renewing my mind and how I think. I learned so much and made friends with some great people!

Chris and I in Panama City

That's all for now. More recipes and stories to come.